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Talk:Ra'wI'
as a redirect, this is a little confused -- according to the reference books of Marc Okrand, the Klingonese word la' means commander, the rank. ra'wI' means "one who commands" and is more of a direct analog to "commanding officer" than it is to the rank, commander. -- Captain MKB 23:00, 4 January 2009 (UTC) :"Ra'wI'" is the word used in KM (page 2), capitalized as if a title. Please remember to sign your comments on talk pages. The Klingon for the Galactic Traveler reference book clearly states, on page 52, the ra'wI' is not a rank, but is an adjective used for anyone of a rank who is in authority over others. It can be used as a title, but when it is, it means Commanding Officer, not the rank Commander. -- 23:46, 4 January 2009 (UTC) :Page 2 of KM: ... Qrad, the callow young gunnery officer who had just taken over the duties of the ''SIm'yoH's first officer, Ra'wI' Qeq ...'' The SIm'yoH captain, Ya'Vang, is given the title HoD. -- 02:59, 6 January 2009 (UTC) ::Yes, HoD means "captain" -- and page 52-53 of Klingon for the Galactic Traveler states :::There is, in addition, a frequently misunderstood word, ra'wI', which is correctly, though misleadingly, translated as "commander," as is la'. The confusion comes about because ra'wI' literally means "one who commands," from the verb ra' ("command, order") plus the suffix -wI' ("one who does something"). Thus, a ra'wI' is, literally, someone who gives an order. The word is generally used to refer to any officer of the rank of Sogh or higher. It may be used either as a description (ra'wI' ghaH qIlaq'e' is a commander") or a title (qImlaq ra'wI' K'mlak"), though in all cases it is understood as not reflecting the precise rank of the individual. Except for formal occasions, it is safe to use the title of ra'wI'. In fact, if one is not sure of an officer's rank, it is probably the safest route to take. ::The manual spends an entire paragraph explaining that ra'wI' may be used as a title for any commanding officer, but it is definitely not a cognate for the rank "commander". According to this book, any lieutenant commander, lieutenant or captain may be referred to as ra'wI' by someone who wishes to acknowledge that person as "one who gives commands". --Captain MKB 03:08, 6 January 2009 (UTC) :::I thought MB policy was to include all information, even if contradictory, and not to make judgements about which source is correct and which is not. If you want to lecture someone about what KftGT says, go talk to Martin or Mangels, but I'd think a contributor of legitimate to this site would be afforded something other than this level of contempt. – 00:52, 7 January 2009 (UTC) My point is that there is no conflicting information -- but that you are misunderstanding the source material -- I hold no contempt for this but I want to find a way to show you a different way of looking at it that you don't seem willing to accept. KftGT specifies that ra'wI' can be used as a title. The novel you mention uses it as a title. Your misinterpretation was that ra'wI' is directly translated as a rank. Nowhere in the novel does it say this. So the novel and the reference book are in agreement, but you have made some sort of other assumption. The reference book actually explains the reason for the confusion in translation, in that Klingonese has two different terms -- one means "commander" and one means "a person who commands". Both may be used as a title, with different meanings. Although they are more similar in English, they are not always interchangable in Klingon. -- Captain MKB 04:46, 7 January 2009 (UTC)